I’m embarrassingly dreadful at skateboarding having spent a painfully high majority of the time falling off them. I quickly gave up on the idea and stuck with mountain biking and playing video games. There have been a few skateboarding games over the years, some good but most bad. Having never played the first OlliOlli I didn’t have any expectations or ideas of what its sequel would be like. Because of what I just mentioned please do not judge me for my lack of knowledge on either OlliOlli or the fine sport/pastime it represents, think of this as a disclaimer of sorts.

Gameplay:
I wasn’t all that impressed with my first quick play of OlliOlli2: Welcome to Oillwood. I kept forgetting to press X just as the board was about to touch down onto the concrete causing an imperfect ‘Sloppy’ landing and throwing off the flow of the game which usually ended up in a painful tumble down some stairs and an end to that go. Once you get to grips with the basics it becomes enjoyable and addictive. You only have to reach the end of the level to unlock the next. The difficulty comes into play when trying to obtain the five challenge stars for each level as they slowly become more complicated as the game progresses. My compulsion to get every single one made this game more frustrating than it really is but its saving grace is that you don’t have to get all the stars in one go. There will definitely be a few stars that you’ll have to ignore until you’ve mastered more of the ‘Trickionary.’

Some of the requirements for the challenge stars can seem almost foreign to a person unfamiliar with skateboarding. For example, one particular challenge reads ‘Pull a Hardfilp out of a Nose Manual.’ The aforementioned ‘Trickionary’ has everything you need to decipher these cryptic codes along with a little animation showing each one being performed. Learning this list will take ages as it seemingly covers all the known skateboarding tricks, grinds, and stances ever documented, and I swear a few new ones for good measure.

… you hear the dub-step stylings and urban beats …

Once you have the grinding and manual moves memorized the game seems to open up and becomes quite fun. When I say fun I really mean tear your hair out of your skull frustration as I ended up replaying the same level over and over again trying to get that perfect combo run or even just making it to the end on some of the later levels. One single mistake and I press Triangle to instantly restart. All I seem to do is “Skate. Die. Repeat.”

I was expecting the game to feel slightly awkward on the Vita compared with the PS4 version but Roll7 seems to have tweaked the controls perfectly. Not only that but both the Vita and PS4 versions look great and are near identical to each other which brings me nicely onto the next section.

Visuals:
Levels are very quick and fast paced. Unless you’re slamming into the concrete it can be quite hard to take in all the finer details. Based in a movie themed world with level sets called Curse of the Aztec, Gunmetal Creek, and even Carnival of the Dead, they look very different to one another which alleviates any monotony that usually troubles these kinds of games.

Audio:OlliOlli2 includes a very distinctive choice in music that I’m sure most skateboarders of today would find appealing. That makes me sound old but some of you will understand when you hear the dub-step stylings and urban beats that resonate from every level and menu.

… it rewards the perfectionists and hardcore players …

Online/Multiplayer:
There is a split-screen Local Multiplayer mode that can handle up to four players which will be patched in at a later date. I would love to see Cross-Play with the Vita and PS4 but won’t get my hopes up.

Conclusion:OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood demands your patience and skill, it rewards the perfectionists and hardcore players that invest in learning this surprisingly deep game. With the wealth of modes, daily grinds, challenges, and the upcoming local multiplayer, this Cross-Buy game is excellent value for the money. Unless of course you anger easily at failing over and over again then this game might not be your best choice.

Score:

* All screenshots used in this review were taken directly from the game using the Vita’s built in screen capture feature and the Share functionality on the PlayStation 4.